Face to the Village : The Riazan Countryside under Soviet Rule, 1921-1930 / Tracy McDonald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McDonald, Tracy, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Peasants--Soviet Union--History--20th century.

Peasants.

Ri︠a︡zanskai︠a︡ oblastʹ (Russia)--History.

Ri︠a︡zanskai︠a︡ oblastʹ (Russia).

Ri︠a︡zanskai︠a︡ oblastʹ (Russia)--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (441 p.)

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [2018]

Language Note:

English

Biography/History:

Tracy McDonald is an assistant professor in the Department of History at McMaster University.

Summary:

In the summer of 1924, the Bolshevik Party called on scholars, the police, the courts, and state officials to turn their attention to the villages of Russia. The subsequent campaign to 'face the countryside' generated a wealth of intelligence that fed into the regime's sense of alarmed conviction that the countryside was a space outside Bolshevik control. Richly rooted in archival sources, including local and central-level secret police reports, detailed cases of the local and provincial courts, government records, and newspaper reports, Face to the Village is a nuanced study of the everyday workings of the Russian village in the 1920s. Local-level officials emerge in Tracy McDonald's study as vital and pivotal historical actors, existing between the Party's expectations and peasant interests. McDonald's careful exposition of the relationships between the urban centre and the peasant countryside brings us closer to understanding the fateful decision to launch a frontal attack on the countryside in the fall of 1929 under the auspices of collectivization.

Contents:

Part one : The Battle for Space: What Physical and Virtual Space Reveal about the Countryside

The Setting

The Police

The Courts

The Rural Soviet

Part two : The Battle for Resources: What Non-Violent Crime Reveals about the Countryside

Taxation : Talking with the Taxman about Subsistence; or, Feeding the Proletarian Cat

The Forest : Wood, Warmth, and Repair

Part three : The Battle for Souls : What Violent Crime Reveals about the Countryside

Bandit Tales : The Stream of the Still and the Lure of Easy Profit

Hooliganism : Toward the Cultured Life

Rough Justice : The Village Disciplines Its Own

Pitelino

Conclusion

Appendix

Glossary.

Notes:

Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based inks.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 07. Dez 2018)

ISBN:

9781487514082

1487514085

9781442686113

1442686111

OCLC:

772396211